While Buffy attempts to work out how she feels about her evening's entertainment with Spike, Willow is introduced by Amy to a magic practitioner who gets her heavily dosed up. Which is bad news for Dawn when Willow takes her out on the town.

Scuppering all the suggestions that Willow is going to become the season's big villain, this episode sees her finally realize what she's doing when after losing Tara she nearly kills Dawn in a car crash. the problem is that it's a very slow process that sees Willow taking part in what appears to be the witch version of Trainspotting, packed with odd visions of things that make no sense at all. Which, of course, is the point to some degree, as this an episode clearly mean to warn kids of the dangers of drugs. Which it does. Over and over and over again, hammering the message home so hard that by the end of the story you're buried up to your knees.

It's a bit of a poor premise to hang an episode on, and the addition of a demon that even Dawn can kick the ass of seems to remove much of the sense of danger. Now, if Willow's spells started going wrong, that might have worked better, but as a look at Dawn and how she needs people to look out for her, it doesn't really come across that well. Alyson Hannigan gives it her all towards the end when she breaks down in front of Buffy, who nearly walks off and leaves her, in a tremendously powerful scene. However, it's followed by an extensive sequence in Willow's room chatting about how she and Buffy will both be giving up their bad ways and it's not clear whether one or both mean it. Good to a point, but it's way too long.

The thing that saves the episode is the Buffy/Spike material. The aftermath of their sexual encounter is wonderful, with Spike finally having the upper hand and Buffy trying to deny anything happened. Who is right, who is wrong, and where things will go next remains to be seen, but judging by the end of the episode, Spike seems to be a far more faithful friend and useful ally than Willow at the moment, especially in the way he takes care of Dawn. Not a dreadful episode then, but it could have done with being less talky and preachy. What next though? At least we're being kept guessing as the season arc isn't as obviously formed as it has been in the past, dealing more with the growing pains of the main characters than a major villain.

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